Two years ago, the 49ers were 6-10 and floundering; they had the 5th worst record in the league from 2004 from 2010 in the pre-Jim Harbaugh era. Today, San Francisco possesses arguably the NFL’s most talented roster and best coaching staff, but is coming off a painful loss in the title game.

When I look at the 49ers, it’s hard not to see the striking similarities to an incredible turnaround executed 52 years ago. From 1953 to 1958, the Green Bay Packers were one of the league’s most poorly-run franchises. The team won just 20 games over that six-year period, the second fewest in the league. Vince Lombardi arrived in 1959, and the Packers won the NFL’s West Division in 1960, losing in the final seconds in the title game that year to Philadelphia. It was a heartbreaking loss, but the Packers used that game as motivation to win NFL titles in ’61, ’62, ’65, ’66, and ’67, with the latter two coming in the Super Bowl.

In the secondary, Lombardi brought in Emlen Tunnell, whom he had coached with the Giants, and switched the positions of Hank Gremminger and John Symank. Cornerback Jesse Whittenton had been with the Packers in ’58, and moved into the starting lineup in Lombardi’s first year. The takeaway: of the 22 starters on the 1960 team that went to the NFL title game, 10 were starters on the ’58 squad that went 1-10-1, and another seven were backups on that same team. Yet those players formed the foundation for the team of the ’60s.2

It’s hard not to draw the similarities to Harbaugh’s 49ers. In fact, Harbaugh inherited even more starters on his first team to make the title game than Lombardi did. If not for the switch at quarterback, the 2012 49ers offense would have only three new starters compared to the 2010 version that went 5-10 under Mike Singletary. The second wide receiver position has been a revolving door opposite Michael Crabtree, and will likely feature a new face soon (perhaps first round pick A.J. Jenkins). The other two new starters are on the offensive line: Center Jonathan Goodwin was picked up from New Orleans, while RG Alex Boone was on the team before Harbaugh arrived (and has now blossomed into one of the game’s best guards).

Like Lombardi, Harbaugh deserves credit for unlocking the potential in a host of players he inherited. San Francisco has become the most talented team in the league not because Harbaugh was able to find new players (with one obvious exception), but because he and his staff maximized what they inherited. Lombardi’s tale is similar: yes, the team he inherited was 1-10-1, but they also featured seven Hall of Famers (and Jerry Kramer). Of course, at the time, no one much of Starr, Hornung, Taylor, Gregg, Kramer, or Nitschke. Of the other two future Hall of Famers, Ringo was an established star pre-Lombardi, but Len Ford retired after the ’58 season. Harbaugh knew he inherited great players in Willis, Gore, Davis, and Smith, but he’s maximized the talents of Staley, Iupati, Boone, Bowman, McDonald, Crabtree, Brooks, and Brown.

Back in those days, the draft actually took place at the end of the prior season. The 1959 draft was completed over a month before Lombardi came to Green Bay. [↩]

Lombardi also drafted Willie Wood in 1960, a future Hall of Famer who was a punt returner as a rookie and a fixture at safety the rest of the decade. Then in ’61 he drafted Herb Adderley. Dave Robinson, the newest member of the Hall of Fame, was added in 1963. [↩]

I like this comparison.It shows that often you don’t need to “blow up a roster” and start over. Good coaches can improve player performance, including finding that “synergy” among players that as one player improves, others around them do as well.